Gromnir

actually, it didn't... not really. majority o' that money goes to individual schools... is misleading. $908 mil of $989 mil is expenses and payments to Universities. $70 mil has been allotted for the new concussion program. the $40 million lawsuit is being appealed, so is not counting as a loss... yet. most money the ncaa brings in is media rights/tv revenues which is then paid to conferences and schools. HA! Good Fun!

If I ever had two thousand bucks to spend on a set of kitchen knives this would likely be my pick oh, we don't use them as kitchen knives. we got one o' those walnut surfaced magnetic knife racks so we can stare at the MACs while we use our cheap wusthof blades. ... am only kinda joking. HA! Good Fun! ps edited out picture

am admitting that by the time we get a response to a customer support ticket, we has near forgotten we sent the ticket. weeks-often many weeks- pass and we be accustomed to the broken whatever such that when the predictable non-response to our ticket arrives, we is initially surprised before our "oh yeah, now Gromnir remembers..." reaction. haven't yet learned to stop sending tickets is, we suspect, our genuine problem. definition o' insanity and all that? keep performing same action and expecting different results, at least in a newtonian universe, is insane. HA! Good Fun!

well, yeah... as a general proposition the system persists because o' the socialist notion that there is value in making sports scholarships available in spite o' the fact that many o' those sports do not generate revenue. w/o such we would have men's football, men's basketball and baseball... and only at a handful o' schools... which would violate title ix in a Big way. we "steal" money from rich citizens to build highways and schools too. perhaps it is wrong, but unraveling the system requires major changes. paying players money or allowing 'em to get money from the use o' their image, even if you agree such is necessary, would require major changes to all college sports. such difficulties is why most universities and pundits suggest more moderate solutions such as providing some kinda fixed additional amount to the scholarship benefits o' players from the revenue generating sports... which still runs afoul o' many title ix roadblocks, but isn't as much o' a dead end. HA! Good Fun!

That is a strange analogy. but lord knows we ain't gonna nerd duel over what folks think is questions o' ps:t or star wars. regardless o' your personal answers, the notion that good writing leaves more unanswered questions is bass akwards-- is complete untenable. now perhaps you don't agree that ps:t had any unanswered questions o' import. fine. am not gonna try and change your mind. HA! Good Fun!

Indeed. PST leaves unanswered questions primarily because you want to ask them and seek them out, and because it elicits actual thought about the subject matter. and it fails as often as it succeeds. the questions a reader, as with all literature be it digital or print, should be questions 'o why rather than what. seek out answers to novek's posited questions has no answers w/i the game, and they ain't philosophical quandaries existing beyond the scope o' the art neither. ps:t is our favorite game, but we wouldn't call it best... and the writing is often amateurish and crude. is heavy on exposition and dime store philosophy while leaving many practical questions unanswered. we can question and wonder the value and meaning o' ravel, but we is not left wondering what happened to her or the reasons she cursed/blessed tno. the major questions gots answers w/i the context o' the game. you not need secondary sources or imagination to find answers to ravel. sure, you can argue what was author intent and makes up theories 'bout symbolism til you turn blue in face, but is answers w/i game that is no doubt why ravel were a favorite character o' MCA, who stated that he found ways to add her to all subsequent black isle/obsidian games. and again. it takes no art or skill to create questions and then fail to answer. the notion that questions raised should be answered is considered axiomatic w/i the craft, though as with all such "rules" it is broken as often as not. is there reasons other than choosing to leave up to imagination to fail at answering novek questions? no? if is simple some vague notion that unanswered leads to greater enlightenment that guides one to suggest that more unanswered questions is better, then: fail. if gonna break "rule," one need understand and have reasons for breaking. can be specific 'bout the usefulness o' a particular unanswered question? fine, but silly notion that unanswered is better is contrary to reasonable outcomes desired w/i the art. HA! Good Fun!

most college football programs make very little money, and that money typical goes to support other athletic departments. for an out of state student such as Gromnir was, the average yearly costs to attend Cal is ~$60k. how many $60k jobs can your average college jock find nowadays? and 'course we is talking 40 year investment rather than 4, yes? additional, for student athletes serious about an nfl career, the coaching and training they receive from professional coaches also has considerable value. various schemes suggested to pay players is economical challenging for most universities and impossible for a large %. ~25 of 228 d1 programs break even each year... though obvious the numbers change a bit. and dont even get us started on title ix problems. and am suspecting that in spite o' some recent litigations, the average player would not wanna be treated as an employee. we got no real issue with letting players market themselves, but is also a bit problematic... and likely pointless. for a $60 jersey, the university itself makes very little money. is forbes and cnbc articles that claim anywhere 'tween $3 and $5 for university on sales o' jersey. obvious can't give player all profits for selling a Georgia or Texas jersey, so let's be magnanimous and split that in half. for sake o ez math, call $2 per jersey. the thing is, even they typical star player ain't selling that many jerseys. may seem like lots, but it actual ain't that great. tebow were kinda a recent high watermark with about 1500 per year. most other star players come nowhere near that... oh, and don't forget you is likely now paying attorney and agents and other folks to handle the money side. and again, most Universities don't make money, and for the most part, the money the Universities do get goes to support other athletic programs that don't generate revenue. is not that paying star athletes will create a new revenue stream. pay stars means take away from women's lacrosse and swimming and track. HA! Good Fun!

it did, many times. you gave examples where it did such. *shrug* writers do rely on the imagination o' the reader. is not same as leaving unanswered questions. give limited or no physical description o' some horrific or mythical beastie? sure. let reader fill in such details is much different than filling in story. HA! Good Fun!

being able to imagine countless nameless one lives is not leaving questions unanswered, but we will put it in nerdish: leave question o' luke skywalker parentage unanswered woulda' been better? the pieces the writer puts forth should all fit together. leave gaps is lazy or mistake. is impossible to say with certainty that your imagined resolutions would be superior to the author if he had bothered to put forth the requisite effort. regardless, is the writer's job to craft the story. if is superior by leaving "more questions than it answers," then there weren't no point to having the writer put pen to paper. coulda' left nonek to imagine the whole damn thing and call it Genius. "once upon a time, a man awoke in a morgue with the realization that he had cheated death hundreds and perhaps thousands o' times..." 30 the end whatever call it a day. HA! Good Fun!

caution and quick feet is our choices. that being said, Gromnir doesn't have a family. we have lived in a few rough neighborhoods, and while we never particular feared for self, having a family to protect would change our self-defense calculus. a baseball bat next to the bedstand has been our go-to weapon o' choice for confronting burglars, not that we need such nowadays. we have never owned anything that we valued enough to kill somebody to retain, so am doubting we woulda' ever swung our bat at anybody in anger. our sister became ill and lived with us a number o' years and before we moved to our comical safe neighborhood, we did have a large & noisy dog to protect her when we weren't around. if we had kids and a wife and we couldn't have a big dog, we would at least consider a gun. a knife? can't think of a situation we would want a knife. is hardly an ideal home protect weapon, and for any other scenario we is gonna use the "caution and quick feet" option. the ridiculous small possibility of being attacked after we has happily surrendered our wallet, class ring and computer (our shoes and suit is likely gonna be our most valuable possessions at any given moment, but we ain't yet been threatened for our shoes) to the person robbing us does not make us want to purchase a knife. if we is attacked before we have a chance to surrender our goods, a knife woulda' been pointless in any case. however, we do have the full damascus series o' MAC knives. gorgeous, no? HA! Good Fun!

"The mark of a great game, it births more questions than it answers." can't express how much we disagree. for good story, all major questions should be resolved and conclusion, while inevitable and perfect in retrospect, shoulda' been evoking surprise and wonder in the reader. am not a huge fan o' the ambiguous resolution, but that is the one case we seen for leaving an unanswered question. regardless, with possible single exception, for good story, all questions should have answers. a game, with an anticipated (but failed) sequel due to insufficient sales is gonna have unanswered questions. however, as often as not, such unanswered questions is a result o' lazy writing or cut content. kotor 2 were not made better 'cause o' mysteries surrounding hk droids. such questions were intended to have answers in any event. game did not become superior 'cause answers were brutal amputated. no doubt can see the slippery slope ahead, yes? we will observe that in recognizing the excessive (but necessary?) exposition and philosophy-for-dummies approach o' ps:t, a few questions initiated in game were unanswerable... but that were a function o' the setting as much as bad writing. outside o' a philosophy primer or textbook, is not the job o' writer to specific ask the reader consider meaning and value. reader should discover the questions for themselves. regardless, we cannot disagree more 'bout the birthing o' questions. takes no skill at all to birth. to raise and nurture such questions... to surprise reader with the maturation o' forgotten or seeming inconsequential questions... well, that takes skill and art. HA! Good Fun!

the problem with grad rates, as you can see from the bootleg article, is that there is multiple methodologies that is used simultaneous by universities often to obscure. GSR (graduation success rate) is the current favored method for individual years as it recognizes, for example, a player being drafted by an nfl team before graduation, but more accurate penalizes schools for transfers. (in the past, a mid-season transfer would not counted til subsequent year, if ever.) this is what leads to so much confusion and consternation as one can see from bootleg that the gsr for san jose state for academic year 2012-2013 were 51% and in 2011-2012 sjsu were tied with Cal at a paltry 48%... in 2010-2011, sjsu had foodball grad rate o' 44% which were second worst in all of ncaa football (http://www.scout.com/college/stanford/story/1273612-the-bootleg-s-2013-graduation-rate-analysis http://www.scout.com/college/stanford/story/1183346-the-bootleg-s-2012-graduation-rate-analysis ). APR is sorta/kinda a tracking of GSR over a 4-year span. *shrug* confusion is expected. how can grad rates be low but apr high? is reason why bootleg and other sources post articles as APR is frequent inexplicable. however, one thing is certain: Cal should be embarrassed. we saw an academic advisor a total o' one time while we were at Cal, so am not surprised that things has only gotten worse. even so... is particular appalling when looking at disparity 'tween student body grad rates v. football player grad rates... and when grad rates o' black football players is further highlighted, one wonders how such inequalities is allowed to continue. is shameful. yeah, at public schools you got far less tracking o' students-- success and failure is individual responsibility. "why should football players get special treatment?" is a valid argument. special tutors and programs to ensure football player success is kinda frowned 'pon by the hippies at Cal. even so, is no reason for seeing +95% grad rates for student body as a whole and only mid-40% grad rates for football players. recruit such athletes with an expectation that more than 50% will fail is utter unacceptable to Gromnir. HA! Good Fun! ps we solved mystery of sjsu high apr. sjsu student-body graduation rate, as a whole, is not much better than the football team. apr considers the disparity 'tween athletes receiving financial aid and the grad rate (GSR) o' the school as a whole as viewed over a 4-year span. thus sjsu poor grad rates for football players is not an ncaa concern as football players is faring little worse than the ordinary student at sjsu.

am forgetting from whence hurl did matriculate. san jose st. rings a bell, but if that is incorrect and we give offence by making such a suggestion, we apologize. http://www.scout.com/college/stanford/story/1399111-the-bootleg-s-2015-graduation-rate-analysis am embarassed to admit that from an academic pov, the public universities in CA do a rather poor job o' educating their football players. is perhaps not complete fair to compare elite private universities to publics, but the disparity is often appalling. HA! Good Fun!

only time we lock our door is when we go outta town for at least a couple days. am honest not even certain where our keys are. use garage door opener to access our home on extreme rare occasions we lock door during business trips or vacations. when we eventual decide to sell our home, to provide a real estate agent with keys we would likely need have a locksmith come out to our home to re-key the locks. *shrug* "crime" in our neighborhood amounts to kids taking golf carts for a joy ride and leaving 'em stranded out at the back lakes. is frequent suspicion o' drug use by teens, but by the time security arrives, the ne'er do wells is near always gone. heck, even drunk driving is "punished" by no more than an escort home or to the entrance gate, followed by an appropriately (inappropriate) stern warning. HA! Good Fun!

10% is on the low end of many surveys, but keep in mind that extremism is not easy to define. the reason the % is so frightening high is 'cause when respondents is asked 'bout the appropriateness o' violence 'gainst civilians or suicide bombings, or similar such examples, muslims is far more likely to respond in the affirmative than followers o' the other major religions. is ok to use violence to prevent foreigners from burning the quran? is ok to use violence to prevent foreigners from burning the bible? etc. the ordinary follower o' islam might not concede that using violence to prevent such sacrilege equates with being extremist. the surveys/studies we has seen that show inordinate high percentages o' muslim extremism is resulting from a fundamental difference regarding the appropriateness o' violence. the thing is, am not certain how useful such studies is. compare protestants in rhode island to muslims in syria is, perhaps, giving a distorted perspective. might be better to compare folks with similar educational, economic and cultural backgrounds, yes? lebanon might be an ideal location for such comparisons as ~40% o' the population is christian. is those christian militia groups in lebanon any less tolerant o' violence than the muslims? dunno. islam is the most popular religion in a part o' the world that suffers from endemic poverty, substandard education and a rather limited appreciation o' the value o' personal freedoms. as such, the correlation 'tween islam and extremism does not surprise us in the least. HA! Good Fun!

yes HA! Good Fun!

am actual enjoying badlands in spite o' our criticisms, is simple irksome that a few o' the obvious shortcomings (in our mind) is so darn... obvious. wouldn't have taken much to improve. and we understated how much we dislike the superpowered kid. nevertheless, am enjoying. HA! Good Fun!

is good as long as you don't take too serious... and the wire-fu, while limited, is utter unnecessary. am also not certain why they felt the need to make fantastical pickaxes that weigh next to nothing. sure, the show is campy and we got the weird nonsense where women actors gots reasonable footwear in 90% o' scenes but then sudden display ridiculous high heels for 10 seconds o' wiggle, but some o' the aesthetic choices is striking us as insulting to our intelligence rather than mere camp. also, the super-powered chozen one is so annoying and stoopid that we want him to die in some comical horrible way. HA! Good Fun!

For my part, the only reason to put up an x-mas tree at all is to have an actual goddamn pine tree in the house for awhile. It's nice to have lights in it (which enhance the experience of lying beneath the branches on one's back and looking upwards), but I could do without all the other decorations. I go buy one every year from the parking lot of the paramedic station around the block. They sell at a ridiculous markup, but I think of it as a donation to a neighborhood nonprofit, and I enjoy the experience of strolling in to buy one and surprising them by carrying it home by hand. haven't had a christmas tree these past few years, which on one level is ironic given that we own a christmas tree farm. the "farm" is on less than five acres, and it is in idaho, so is a bit o' a drive for us to bring home one o' our trees. +80 year old woman works the place for us with minimal help from her kids and grandkids. is one o' the properties we is seriously considering retiring to. mary, our caretaker, is gonna get the house as well as 3 acres whenever she tells us she wants to retire... or when Gromnir retires. haven't told her yet. maybe next christmas? in any event, is a good chance that we will be having a christmas tree farm in our backyard in a couple years. am inexplicably amused by the thought. HA! Good Fun! Holy Smoke Gromnir.....you allow a women that old to work?That would be illegal and criticized in South African but we can sometimes be a little overly concerned with SJ sjw would be beating down our door if we kicked her outta her "home" 'cause she is too old. we bought the land from her some years ago when she were desperate to sell, but she didn't wanna go live with her kids and grandkids. we handed her a big pile o' money and she got to stay in her home. for all intents and purposes, she lives there rent free and makes a bit o' money on the side selling christmas trees and some produce. her family thinks Gromnir is some kinda bonafide saint, which we find a it unsettling. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

For my part, the only reason to put up an x-mas tree at all is to have an actual goddamn pine tree in the house for awhile. It's nice to have lights in it (which enhance the experience of lying beneath the branches on one's back and looking upwards), but I could do without all the other decorations. I go buy one every year from the parking lot of the paramedic station around the block. They sell at a ridiculous markup, but I think of it as a donation to a neighborhood nonprofit, and I enjoy the experience of strolling in to buy one and surprising them by carrying it home by hand. haven't had a christmas tree these past few years, which on one level is ironic given that we own a christmas tree farm. the "farm" is on less than five acres, and it is in idaho, so is a bit o' a drive for us to bring home one o' our trees. +80 year old woman works the place for us with minimal help from her kids and grandkids. is one o' the properties we is seriously considering retiring to. mary, our caretaker, is gonna get the house as well as 3 acres whenever she tells us she wants to retire... or when Gromnir retires. haven't told her yet. maybe next christmas? in any event, is a good chance that we will be having a christmas tree farm in our backyard in a couple years. am inexplicably amused by the thought. HA! Good Fun!

am avoiding star wars stuff as much as possible til we see the new movie. nevertheless, am certain that if we don't see the flick soon, am gonna be spoiled either intentional or accidental. 'course the problem is we is a curmudgeon who don't wanna deal with lines and hordes o' sweaty nerdlings... and am pretty sure that most schools is now out for the holiday break, so we can't sneak into a mid-day showing to avoid the teeming throng. am not thinking we can avoid all spoilage til january neither. oddly enough, we can play swtor solo stuff much concern as all we needs do is disable chat to avoid those who wish to bring grief to a star wars christmas.. HA! Good Fun!

cory everson were ms. olympia during much o' the 80s. as an aside, it occurred to us that nowadays we gots actors/actresses/models trying to play action heroes in movies... and action hero movies is big money. we hear how so-n'-so spent 3 months training to play _______ or that _________ worked out a bazillion hours a day to get physical prepared for the demands o' their role. made us think o' musicals o' the 30s-50s... serious. is hard to imagine cyd charisse or rita hayworth being daunted by the physical demands o' any modern action role. the dancers o' the musical era endured rigorous physical training for decades. the actors and actresses doing musicals got their parts in large part 'cause o' how athletic gifted they were. it seems that hollywood has a demand for action stars now more than at any time since the swashbuckler films were popular, and is w/o question that hollywood is looking for more actresses who can kick arse. nowadays you can't turn on tv w/o seeing sports drink or workout apparel commercials. every mid-sized town in the USA has at least one gym and people is increasingly aware o' the benefits o' physical fitness. nevertheless, it were +60 years ago that hollywood were producing its most athletic and physically capable stars. just struck us as odd. HA! Good Fun!

gadot doesn't have a noteworthy positive acting resume. her role in furious 7 is what gets her ww part? hope not. pick a skinny actress such as emily blunt or even kiera knightly and we would be less concerned. we know that either o' those skinny girls can act and am near certain that they would, given the limitations o' their natural frames, workout to keep from looking ridiculous when fighting doomsday or lifting a sword... or eating a cracker. but again, most important is that blunt and knightly has acting chops. am disappointed. is no way gadot could improve her acting resume to dispel our concerns, but we figured that working out a bit would at least be showing that she took the role serious. didn't need gadot to shame cory everson. gadot don't look bad, but she looks like a model instead o' somebody who engages in strenuous regular exercise. isn't strong s'posed to be the new sexy? am also not certain why gadot gets a pass. if henry cavill had played superman looking like that guy from the terrible axe dry spray tv commercials that is current airing, we would hear no end of criticism, yes? again, is kinda a minor quibble. what is gonna be important is seeing if gadot is a convincing ww on screen, but lack o' dedication in the gym does set off alarms for Gromnir. why not add a bit o' gravitas to her frame as well as her acting resume? HA! Good Fun!

am knowing it is a minor quibble, but is there any reason why gal gadot couldn't workout with jessica biel's trainer from the blade movie? just sayin... HA! Good Fun!

that were our point exactly. chris non answer allows anybody to infer what they wish. am also gonna note that the bit 'bout chis role at obsidian not being clear sounds all too familiar to us, but from employer pov. have worked with many a valuable associate/employee that wanted more or different responsibility. tell such folks what their job is and they sudden develop selective amnesia. yeah, Gromnir has, more than once, explained that elizabeth or bob or phil were an invaluable asset and we needed 'em to continue doing A, but we were indeed aware that they is capable o' more... when situation changes or time permits, we is gonna get elizabeth more opportunities to do B or C or D. two years pass and elizabeth is still doing A with very little B, C or D. is not as if we didn't give 'em a shot at more litigation or whatever, but elizabeth ain't a litigator. is not a criticism. nevertheless, elizabeth keeps asking for chances to B. C and D. *shrug* am not having any notion o' what chris situation were at obsidian, 'cause he were as clear as mississippi mud, but even if he were clear, we suspect that fergie mighta' seen situation different. HA! Good Fun!